Buffett on PBS

Anyone see the interview with Warren Buffett last night on PBS? After watching it I'm thinking we hand the $700 billion Congress is spending to try and get the economy jump-started to Buffett and let him manage it. Certainly he could do a better job than some government agency.

I watched it off and on (flipped back and forth between it and America's Got Talent) and was pretty impressed with what he had to say. Didn't like the part about it getting worse before it gets better though.

Anyway, when I flipped to the station the first time, my son had some interesting comments. It went something like this:

Him: Who's that guy?

Me: It's Warren Buffett.

Him: What a doof (rhymes with "poof"). What's he know about money?

Me: He's the second richest man in the world after Bill Gates (not sure this is still true, but it's close enough to get my point across.)

Him: Oh. (pause) How'd he get so rich?

Me: He's the world's greatest investor. He's made his money by investing it in companies.

Him: Oh.

Needless to say, he was interested in what Buffett had to say from there on out. ;-)

Comments

[MonkeyMonk]

Why did he call him a "doof" right off the bat?

[Michael]

Haha. How old is your son?

[FMF]

Michael --

12

[FMF]

Monkey --

You ever seen Buffett and hear him talk? His voice is scratchy/high pitched. In addition, he's an old guy and on PBS -- instant "doof" material for many kids.

[tom]

Buffett has been extremely vocal lately. He's usually very reserved when it comes to the media. I know he supports this bailout and would like to see it passed, but I still find it odd to see his face everywhere right now.

[Jesse Wojdylo]

No matter how high pitched his voice is, I enjoy listening to him speak as he is the best investor of my time!!

[Pop]

"Buffett has been extremely vocal lately. He's usually very reserved when it comes to the media. I know he supports this bailout and would like to see it passed, but I still find it odd to see his face everywhere right now."

He basically had his way with Goldman Sacks and GE, and now he's out campaigning in favor of the bailout. Gee, I wonder how much his investments will soar if the bailout goes through and those two companies can unload their garbage on the rest of us? Buffett and his good old boy schtick are getting tired; he's a money-hungry pig just like everyone else.

[Matt]

Which presidential candidate is Buffet advising again?

[Chris]

There is something to be said about having a competent group of people manage this crisis. Some examples:

Do nothing and your economy collapses by the double digits.

Muddle along by instituting arbitrary market rules that make people feel better but don't do anything to solve the problem leads to Japan in the 90s aka "the lost decade."

When faced with a similar crisis, Sweden recapitalized the banks by buying massive amounts of preferred stock, effectively nationalizing the companies. The toxic uncountable debt was shifted to the government, and the future of those companies was managed in large part by a unanimously elected government commission. As the credit and banking market recovered the government slowly sold back the shares of the companies and ultimately broke even.

But we could never do that because while Sweden at the time had a dysfunctional economy, they had a very functional government. We have neither! I think the Japanese model is where we are headed personally.

[Chris]

Matt, Buffet endorsed and is advising Obama. From the AP:
"Present at the meeting were AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, former Treasury secretary Paul O'Neill, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, Google chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt and New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, former head of the Wall street investment firm Goldman Sachs. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett joined via speaker phone."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/topstories/2008-07-28-3048064401_x.htm

[Ken]

Buffet is the world's richest person. Somewhat surprisingly Bill Gates ranks third.

http://www.forbes.com/worldsrichest

[Aspiring Entrepreneur]

Many portfolio managers watch the stock investments of Warren Buffet. They want to at least mimic the success of the world's greatest investor. His company, Berkshire Hathaway, is I think the single most expensive stock (correct me if I'm wrong) with a value of more than $100K per stock.

[Richard]

Ken - That is no longer true. That article is from march which alot has changed since then. In Fortune magzine of the riches people in America, Gates was #1, Buffet was #2. I don't know about worldwide though.

[Me]

Actually the reason Gates ranks higher now is because Buffet gave Gates large chunks of shares in Berkshire.

[FMF]

Me --

I don't think Buffett gave money to Gates (and thus increasing Gates' net worth.) He MAY have transferred some over to Gates' foundation -- is that what you mean?

[ekrabs]

I figure someone would have mentioned that, but yeah, he's currently in the top spot now, followed by Carlos Slim of Mexico's Telecom, and then Bill. At least, last I checked anyways. I hear there's serious competition coming from Asia though.

I was commenting elsewhere that, if Warren Buffett is so smart-- and I think he is-- he wouldn't take the job if it was offered to him. Someone like Warren have plenty of opportunities to him in the industry, not the least of which is to obviously become a fund manager. However, he never did that, because that industry is heavily regulated with a lot of limitations to prevent catastrophic losses. That's why Mr. Buffett opted for a holdings companies instead. And one he bought at its own fire-sale back then, if you think about it.